Transition too late: Bleiberg

Date: March 28 2013

Peter Hanlon

Australia's World Cup campaign is suffering from tardiness in bringing on the next wave of players, according to veteran coach Miron Bleiberg, and even if the Socceroos qualify for Brazil, whatever they achieve there could have been bettered with swifter generational change.

But as critics lined up to decry Holger Osieck's team after Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Oman left Australia in danger of missing the World Cup with three matches to play, Bleiberg urged a ''bigger picture'' view. He remains confident Australian soccer is moving in the right direction and will recover from the error of persisting for too long with the ''golden generation'' who reached the second round in Germany in 2006.

''Generational change should have started after the [2010] World Cup in South Africa,'' Bleiberg said, citing the young team fielded by Japan at the 2011 Asian Cup as the template the Socceroos should have followed.

''[Instead] Australia sent the same heroes that played in the World Cup in 2006 … we continued to hang on to the Harry Kewells of the world. Now, in the middle of the heat of qualification, we start to do the generational change.

''You can do it - unsuccessfully. Which is why we're sitting uncomfortably where we are.''

The Socceroos' qualifying task was made infinitely harder after Jordan posted a shock 2-1 win over group leader Japan.

The win means Jordan leapfrog the Socceroos into second spot, leaving Australia just hanging on to third and only ahead of Oman on goal difference.

Only the top two sides secure automatic qualification to next year's showpiece with the third facing further play-offs.

Australia will almost certainly have to win on its tough trip to Japan on June 4 in its next match, with Japan also needing a result to guarantee automatic qualification. Then the Socceroos host Iraq and Jordan, and probably need to win both for a top-two berth.

Osieck, who admitted he may have made mistakes in his selection, has already mooted changes to the side travelling to Tokyo.

While the non-selection of dynamic midfielder Tommy Rogic on Tuesday night and the ponderous game plan employed by the Socceroos as they fell two goals behind Oman were among criticisms levelled at Osieck, Bleiberg said the development of players such as James Holland had not been helped by a delayed introduction to the national team.

''If they had played in this tournament [the 2011 Asian Cup] and internationals after that, they would have been much better now … If these guys had 30 internationals under their belts instead of 1½, they would have been better.''

Bleiberg, who forecast that another decade of development and consolidation of the A-League would leave Australia ''as good as anybody'', would not level the blame at Osieck.

''The job of the leaders of the game [Football Federation Australia] is not to decide who will play left-wing, it's to make political decisions, and this decision [to plan for the future] wasn't made.

''Either no one told the coach what to do and he did what he thinks he should do as a new coach to try to win something, or maybe they told him to go to Asia and you must win, which is worse. Tuesday's game is a reflection of this.''

Fox Sports analyst Andy Harper said the Socceroos were in a ''deep hole'' and a ''massive shakedown'' of the squad was needed.

''We are seeing the chickens come home to roost with this current team because of the constant refusal to blood young players. You look at Tommy Oar … by now after the last four-year cycle, he should be a 15-20 cap international,'' Harper told SEN.

''Why those opportunities in friendly matches haven't been used to develop more of these younger players I think is an indictable offence.''